Governor control for dual fuel engines



April 4, 1950 E. RATHBUN 2,502,990

GOVERNOR CONTROL FOR DUAL FUEL ENGINES I Filed Sept. 14, 1946 o/z J 1] C04 IM7EC77OA/ Pl/NP INVENTOR.

.ED WARD HA THE UN Patented Apr. 4, 1950 GOVERNOR COgg'gOL FOR DUAL FUEL INES Edward Rathbun, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Rathbun-J ones Engineering Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 14, 1946, Serial No. 697,112 2 Claims. (Cl. 123-121) This invention relates to high compression internal combustion engines but more particularly to such engines which are adapted to operate on gas or oil or a mixture of both gas and oil.

A dual fuel engine of the high compression oil ignition type may operate either on a maximum amount of gas and a minimum amount of oil, all oil and no gas, or intermediate proportion, but in that event, the two fuels must not exceed a It will be manifest that the performance of two governors on one engine is the same so that if the governor controlling the gas is speeded up slightly, more gas and less oil will be used.

It is recognized that when a single governor is employed for controlling both the gas and oil supply to the engine, and the operating arrangement is such that the engine is operating at approximately rated load on gas, if the load is certain value, depending upon the volume of air thrown off the engine, it will operate at no load available for combustion. If the gas supply fails on gas. However, the load is suddenly thrown or is substantially restricted, the engine should on again, the momentary drop in speed results not automatically supply additional fuel oil to hanonly in introducing full load gas, but also full dle the load, load oil. This is an impossible operating con- It is exceedingly difllcult, if not impossible, as dition, and would have dire results. a practical matter efllciently to fulfill the above On the other hand, with the use of two govrequirements with a single governor. Attempts ernors as above mentioned, they may be interhave heretofore been made in this connection, connected in such a way that in such an event, but they involve exceedingly complicated and the gas supply will be substantially reduced at complex leverage and linkage systems which not the time that the full load oil is supplied. Thus only present many moving parts which are very by employing two governors, the difiiculty mendiflicult to be kept in proper adjustment, to comtioned in connection with the use of a single pensate for bearing, wear, etc., but furthermore, governor is obviated. in such an arrangement, it is patent that one For purposes of illustration but not of limitaportion of the governor motion must handle the tion, an embodiment of the invention is shown gas and another portion the oil, so that either in the accompanying drawings, in which the movement may be too sensitive or not sufficiently figure is a diagrammatic view showing the sensitive adequately under all conditions to actw verno s, one for gas and one for oil, complish the desired purpose, and the connection between them which becomes An object of this invention is to overcome the effective in the event the governors suddenly call difliculties inherent with a single governor. for full load gas and full load oil at the same In accordance with this invention, two govertime. nors are employed, one for the purpose of mov- Referring to the drawing! designates a goving the gas supply valve between open and closed ernor operatively c nn ed to e riv n by he positions, and the other governor for the pure i e, a for C o g the fuel oil supp to pose of controlling the fuel oil supply, each of the the engine. Detailed description and illustration governorsoperating through the norma 'range of the governor is not considered necessary to a provided for it in the usual manner, and each clear understanding of the invention. Suflice it being located on the engine to the best advano y ha he vernor I0 is of the variable tage for handling its respective fuel. Manifestly, 40 Speed yp equipped with a control shaft ll havthe operation of two governors may be regarded ing a crank arm l2 to the end of which is pivsomewhat like two engines operating in parallel, oted a link l3 leading to a suitable-valve l3a one being a gas engine and the other an oil encontrolling the admission of fuel oil from the gine. Consequently, if the speed of the gas enusual injection pump 13b to the engine, the crank gine governor is increased, the gas engine will rm l2 being adapted to rock vertically substantake more of the load until finally the oil engine tially to the extent indicated. When the valve l3a will be without load, such an arrangement in a is closed, then full supply of oil is delivered to gas oil engine corresponding to minimum oil and the engine, but opening of the valve enables a mostly gas operation. Let us assume that the gas controlled amount of oil to bypass to a suitable and oil engines are running in parallel, the gas reservoir, as will be readily understood by those engine being loaded and the oil engine with no skilled in this art. load. In such an event, if the gas is shut off It will be understood that in governors of this the gas engine, the speed of both engines drops type, the control shaft ll oscillates in accordand the oil engine will then pick up its share of ance with the engine load conditions in one dith oa rection when more fuel is required, and in the other direction when a lesser quantity of fuel is needed to keep the engine speed uniform. Variable speed governors of this type are well-known to those skilled in this art and are ordinarily available in the open market, one of which, en-

for the purpose, being. pro

tirely satisfactory duced by WoodwardGovernor Company of Rockford, Illinois, and referred to as Type U. G. 8

Governor.

Manifestly,

posed to the engine.

In addition to the gas control governor l4 which is preferably the same type of governor as the oil control governor the governor Ill can be locatedin; any desired or convenient position on or juxtaoil control governor I is a "accordance with engine load demands, an oil fuel means for said combustion chamber, an engine "driven governor operatively connected to said gas fuel admitting means for admitting gas fuel in admitting means. for admitting oil fuel to the combustion chamber, an engine driven governor operatively connected to said oil fuel admitting and the description above given with respect to the oil control governor applies equally well to this governor which is likewise equipped with a control shaft having a crank arm l6 and a vertically disposed rod i1 connected to the out-' er end of the crank arm and connected at its upper end to the gas'control valve i'lq. As in the case of the oil control governor 10, the gas control governor Il may be mounted in any suitable or desired location with respect to the engine. v

For militating against full load gas as well as full load oil being simultaneously supplied to the engine in the event that the load is suddenly thrown on the engine after it has previously been operating at no load on gas, a yoke arm I! is moved against a stop I! on the rod I! in such manner as to prevent abrupt opening of the gas control valve. The yoke arm I! is mounted for rocking movements on a hydraulic receiver which connects by a tube 2| to a hydraulic transmitter 22. The control shaft ll of the oil governor extends into and is operatively connected to the operating mechanism of the transmitter. The hydraulic system which comprehends the transmitter 22, tube 2| and receiver 20 is not shown nor described in detail inasmuch as devices of this character are well-known to those skilled in the art and are obtainable on the market. For example, a satisfactory device of this character is produced by Sperry Products, Inc., of Hoboken, New Jersey, and referred to as Type HCOl-B.

It will be manifest from the above description that abrupt movement of the control shaft H of the fuel oil governor l0 operates through the hydraulic transmission device to actuate the yoke arm l8 against the stop I! so that abrupt opening movement of the gas control valve is blocked. However, upon restoration of normal conditions, the yoke arm will be moved downwardly to permit predetermined operation of the gas control governor M to regulate the opening of the gas control valve.

It is to be understood that numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and meansfor admitting oil fuel in accordance with thee'ng'ine load demands, and mechanism operatively connected to and deriving movement from said second engine driven governor for closin said gas fuel admitting means in the event both governors'called for full load fuel, said mechanism including a part actuated by said second governor, and a compensating element movable in response to said part to block opening movement of said gas fuel admitting means.

2. In a dual fuel engine of the internal combustion type, the combination of a cylinder having a combustion chamber, gas fuel admitting means for said combustion chamber, an engine driven governor operatively connected to said gas fuel admitting means for admitting gas fuel in accordance with engine load demands, an oil fuel admitting means for admittingoil fuel to the combustion chamber, an engine driven governor operatively connected to said oil fuel admitting means for admitting oil fuel in accordance with the engine load demands, and mechanism operatively connected to and deriving movement from said second engine driven governor for closing said gas fuel admitting means in the event both governors called for full load fuel, said mechanism including a shaft forming a part of and rotated by said second governor, and a compensating element movable in response to said shaft to block opening movement of said gas fuel admitting means.

EDWARD RATHBUN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

